Album: Toxicity (2001)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "X" is about overpopulation and how it will lead to death. Many System Of A Down songs have enigmatic lyrics that are open to interpretation, but this one is pretty clear, with lead singer Serj Tankian screaming the lines "We don't need to multiply" and "We don't need to nullify" repeatedly throughout the 1:58 track. Like many SOAD songs, the title never shows up in the lyric. Tankian wrote the song with the group's guitarist, Daron Malakian.
  • This follows "Chop Suey" on the Toxicity album, which was released the week before 9/11. The album went straight to #1 but was derailed by the terrorist attacks as radio stations were loath to play aggressive songs about death. But over the next few months, the album got its momentum back and ended up selling 3 million copies in America, proving that System Of A Down's niche was rather substantial. The album was produced by Tankian, Malakian, and Rick Rubin, who signed the band to his label.

Comments: 25

  • To Hero from ZeroSerj being based? Weird.
  • Here And Now In The Apocalypse. from It Is Where I AmSOAD got this one wrong demographic collapse is going to occur worldwide along with war famine and disease it is going to take a miracle for humanity to survive.
    I do mean humanity not the people at the tippy top who are just planning on getting rid of the good people below a certain point and subjecting the rest to a 1000 years of tyranical genetic reengineering until the planet has two species the psychopath's and the slaves.
    This is one of my favorite albums all-time I used to think overpopulation was real also but it's just more propaganda.
    The very idea that there are too many people implies some solution is needed Hitler had a solution and the world watched in horror as he tried to carry it out.
    Just remember when they say there's too many people they don't mean them they mean you.
  • Aj from UsaIt says SOAD titles never appear in the song lyrics but "X" is for multiplying and that is very much in the lyrics.
  • Ben Dover from Shrek’s SwampX was originally written for their debut album.
  • Mokitoro from FranceChili is wrong
    SOAD is made of Armenian migrants (except Darion, whose parents are). They often refer to the United States in a negative way so a right winged patriotism is not likely to be their ideology.
  • Ian from Chilli, OhImmigration. We don't need illegals multiplying, but we don't need to nullify the citizenship of the legals and deport them.
  • Maria. from Montclair, Cai think it saying that people are gonna put in our heads that we need to stop multyplying.......eventually their gonna start killikng people off and their gonna tell us how many kids we can have but its gonna all go wrong
  • Richard from Aldershot, United Kingdom'Even though I like the beat to this song, I disagree wioth part of it. Yes we don't need to destroy, or kill; agreed with. But we should continue to multiply. Think about it the WORLD would come to an end within 60years or so. It would be ignorant not to multiply.'i disagree... humans are the scum of the universe they destroy everything, their are also not sustainable... they are selfish and corrupt. all the humans in the world dieing out wouldnt be a bad thing...
  • Evan from Norman, OkI have two theories to the meaning of this song.
    1. The aforementioned overpopulation of the world. It seems like you guys have decided to go on that way, but I am more inclined to believe this:
    2. It's about immigration. We have the overpopulation problem with people coming into the country i9llegally. What lead me to belive this was the line "Tell the people, Tell the people that arrive,Tell the people,Tell the people that arrive,We don't need to multiply,"
    Basically tell the immigrants that the countries population doesn't need to multiply.
  • Jacob from Somewhere, United StatesIt is about overpopulation with the part, "We don't need to multiply!" basically tells it right in front of you. Think about it; we are overpopulating because of hoes, whores, and people that sell their bodies for money and get pregnant and go into labor, and yet they still do it just because.
  • Mr.b from Edinburgh, Scotlandits questioning us. why multiply if theres War and any other kind death in the world? we are all goin to end up killing each other in someway.
    thats what the songs getting at.
    either that or not multiplying, so that their arnt new generations to start new wars or build new bombs or grow up in a hollywood world.
    this band is amazing tho in anyway u read into their lyrics
  • Rick from Columbus, GaAnother great song by the satan worshiping animal molesters. This is not a criticism. I love Satan and screw dogs like i've heard these guys do.
  • Blake from Hamilton, OhEven though I like the beat to this song, I disagree wioth part of it. Yes we don't need to destroy, or kill; agreed with. But we should continue to multiply. Think about it the WORLD would come to an end within 60years or so. It would be ignorant not to multiply.
  • Dennis from Toledo, OhA common System thing is two similarly structured verses about different things (i.e. Thetawaves). We have one verse with the message "Stop having kids, the world is overpopulated already." We have another verse that deals with killing, and presumably has a tie-in to genocide, with the message "Be aware of major genocides and hate-related killings of the past. We don't need to nullify." Here nullify means undo the multiplication. So the song's complete message reads "Stop multiplying, the earth is overpopulated. However, don't think killing people en masse is a solution to this problem."
  • Seth from La, CaTo tell you the truth, I think its about anti-abortion. They say we dont need to multiply, thus we dont need any more kids. But than it says we dont need to nulify, which means we dont need to get rid of. And Ask the people what is right and Show your people how we died is just saying that the public can either go with it or go against it.
  • Jacob from Cbd, PaLet humans kill themselves off. Really we are just screwing ourselves, and the earth, over so just let us die and life will go on. The Earth does not need us to exhist.
  • Ray from Southold, NyThe song is about the need not to multiply hence "X" because we are just killing ourselves off anyway so whats the point point of repopulation if we are going to kill eachother
  • Stevie from Lincoln Park , NjThis song is about convincing thats theirs to many people on earth and not to multiply/not to reproduce and hes saying to show them how we die because hes saying why should we reproduce so if their eventualy goin to die.
  • Anthony from Melbourne, Fli figured at first it had to do with ecstasy considering the first song on the album had something to do with drug money, but now i think its something along the lines of x meaning multiply like joe said, and overpopulation of the world. thats what makes more sense to me.
  • Cole from Greenville, TxI always thought it was like a person telling some tribe of people how to live. "tell your people how we die" and "tell the people that are right"... but im crazy... don't listen to me.
  • Dale from Columbia, ScSerj Tankian's Grandmother was a victim of genocide!
  • Ian from New York, NyI actualy thought this was another song about the Genocide. The line "tell the people how we died" seemed to fit that but that's just me.
  • Billy Ross from Hagerstown, Mdthis is my favorite song on the cd
  • Gabriel Maclean from Toronto, CanadaMost likely that we're going to overpopulat the world
  • Joe from Racine, WiThis song is called X but it is pronounced multiply. My friend figured that out because X means multiply, and of course because Serj Tankian yells, "WE DONT NEED TO MULTIPLY!" repeatedly in the song. Im still not exactly what its about though.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Crystal Waters

Crystal WatersSongwriter Interviews

Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney Princesses

Part of Their World: The Stories and Songs of 13 Disney PrincessesSong Writing

From "Some Day My Prince Will Come" to "Let It Go" - how Disney princess songs (and the women who sing them) have evolved.

Harry Shearer

Harry ShearerSongwriter Interviews

Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.

Joe Elliott of Def Leppard

Joe Elliott of Def LeppardSongwriter Interviews

The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.

Gary Brooker of Procol Harum

Gary Brooker of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.